QD-OLED looks to have taken a step closer to becoming the display technology to beat, with 8K TVs and higher-res monitors featuring the next-gen panels about to hit production lines for the first time.
As reported by FlatpanelsHD, Samsung Display has likely just taken order of machinery that would enable it to start to the mass manufacture of high-density panels that could appear in the best 8K TVs or super-detailed monitors.
Built by American industrial inkjet equipment manufacturer Kateeva, the machine, which is nicknamed “Jarvis” will allow high-volume production of 8K TVs and high-resolution monitors. Kateeva’s machines are reported to have set Samsung Display back $14.5 million.
Samsung Display is currently the only manufacturer to produce QD-OLED panels, but it hasn’t yet officially announced any plans for production of 8K displays featuring the screen tech, however many industry experts have predicted the South Korean company will likely announce its intentions do so at CES in January 2023, though we wouldn't expect the TVs themselves to become available until later in 2023.
QD-OLED panels use a quantum dot layer instead of color filters, meaning TVs using the tech can theoretically achieve higher peak brightness than regular OLED models can deliver, as well as being capable of better saturation.
Analysis: Machine purchase means it may be worth holding fire on that new QD-OLED
Anyone who has recently been in the market to buy one of best 4K TVs will have done their homework on the latest TV tech and will probably be aware of QD-OLED.
Combining the best performance characteristics of quantum dot LED (QLED) TVs – high brightness and color saturation – with the rich blacks and pixel-level image precision of traditional OLED, it's an extremely tempting option. We rate the Sony A95K, one of the two TVs to use it so far, as the best TV on the planet for sheer image quality.
In short, its looking like the display tech to beat in the future. But anyone on the brink of stumping up the sizable asking prices for cutting-edge flagship QD-OLED TVs like the Samsung S95B or a Sony A95K may be hesitant, knowing that they aren’t capable of 8K, despite their premium price tags.
The news of Samsung Display’s outlay on manufacturing tools shows the company’s commitment to QD-OLED, and we would anticipate that an announcement on 8K panels is likely coming soon – though you should expect any early TVs that use the tech to be massively expensive, just as the few regular OLED TVs that come in 8K are.
And with EU regulations meaning that many 8K TVs may not even be possible to sell in the lucrative European market in the future, it may be that high-res monitors are where Samsung Display's efforts will be placed – perhaps the first 4K monitors with QD-OLED are coming soon.
